


Flowers

by the_only_education_worth_having



Series: 12 Days of Spooktober [12]
Category: Nashville (TV)
Genre: Deacon Claybourne - Freeform, F/M, Scarlett O’Conner, reader - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:01:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27289078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_only_education_worth_having/pseuds/the_only_education_worth_having
Summary: It took losing you for me to find myself.
Relationships: Deacon Claybourne/Reader
Series: 12 Days of Spooktober [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1988326





	Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> I’m doing 12 days of Songfic for Halloween. Not halloween related just a challenge to write everyday
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-V4y6YRz0A

Deacon hated wearing suits. He had always felt uncomfortable in them. Too stiff, too straight-laced but he understood it was sometimes necessary. Today was one of those days. So, that morning he got up, showered and shaved before he slipped on his suit. It was his church suit. 2 piece, black and understated but it still made him look smart. As he finished up adjusting the cuffs Scarlett stuck her head around the door, ‘you ready to go?’

‘Sure am,’ Deacon said. Scarlett smiled at him though there was sadness in her eyes. She disappeared out the door and Deacon grabbed his wallet and keys off of his dresser and followed her out. She was already sitting in his truck, in the driver’s seat. Deacon slid into the cab and watched as Scarlett started up the car and commenced driving down the streets of Nashville to their destination.

The truck was a run down, beat up, old thing with a roaring engine. Deacon had bought it second hand a few months back from the garage that had taken in his last car. They passed it on the journey and Deacon could see the SUV in the lot though it was different now. It was dusty and covered in leaves that had fallen from the trees on the sidewalk outside the lot. The windshield was cracked and the hood crumbled from where it had been totalled. Deacon looked away.

It took less than ten minutes to reach the church and when they did the room was already filled with folks and the event had already started. Scarlett and Deacon entered quietly and slipped into seats by the door trying not to draw attention to themselves. Deacon sat in the group for half an hour, listening to others talk until his friend and sponsor Darren called on him.

‘Deacon,’ he said, ‘I know you came in late so you might have missed the narrative of today’s meeting but I see you’ve brought-’ ‘Scarlett,’ his niece interjected. ‘Scarlett along like we planned. See today is about making amends with people we’ve wrong in our close relationships. Is there anything you want to say to Scarlett or maybe someone else you’ve wrong, someone who’s closed to you?’ ‘Um yeah,’ Deacon said shifting nervously in his seat, ‘Scarlett’s my niece. And she’s lived with me for a while now and there’s no doubt my drinking has impacted her life more than it should. It impacted my parents before her. And my sister. I was a bad brother, son and uncle. I hurt them a lot, I know that. I only hope they can forgive me.’ ‘I do,’ Scarlett murmured as she reached for her uncle’s hand and grasped it tightly as she smiled at him. ‘That’s very nice of you Scarlett,’ Darren said, ‘you see people often believe that family has to forgive you for your sins and while it’s nice when they do it can’t always be expected. Is there anyone else you would like to apologise to Deacon?’ ‘Actually, yeah, my girlfriend, ex-girlfriend,’ Deacon corrected himself as he dropped his glance to his hands which he wrung nervously on his lap. ‘Go on,’ Darren encouraged.

‘I didn’t treat her as well as I should’ve. She loved going out dancing and to dinner and a movie. I didn’t like those things because I was obsessed with going somewhere I knew I would find a drink. I like singing at the bluebird because it seemed like a night out but I was still able to drink. I liked touring because she couldn’t see how much I drank and I didn’t have to hide it. Everyone else on tour drank and I was in hotel rooms by myself drinking at 10 am and no one would know. I wasn’t really there as a boyfriend. I spent my money on booze instead of Christmas and birthday presents. And I know she loved me and don’t get me wrong I loved her but that’s not always enough y’know.’

‘Sometimes we don’t think about anything other than drink,’ Darren said which got a murmur of agreement from the rest of the AA group, ‘sometimes we know we’re doing wrong and we do it anyway.’ ‘I take it the two of you ended things?’ said a woman Deacon had never met before from across the circle. ‘Yeah,’ Deacon said. Scarlett caught his eye and then quickly looked away which caused Deacon to be overcome with a morose feeling, ‘if you’ll excuse me I have to nip to the bathroom.’

Deacon got up out of his plastic chair and exited the way they had come in but instead of turning right towards the single toiled down at the end of a dingy corridor he turned left and exited through the main door and into the parking lot where his car was stationed. He opened it up and grabbed the bouquet of flowers that were laying on the backseat and started wandering through the church grounds until he reached where he wanted to be. He sat down on the grass which was still slightly damp with dew facing a grey headstone. It wasn’t fancy and it bore only a last name and dates but it was enough to make feel Deacon feel her presence.

‘You know I hate doing stuff like this,’ he said with a chuckle as if he were waiting for her to answer though of course she couldn’t, ‘i hate talking about myself in there never mind out here where I seem insane.’

‘You know they asked me if I was sorry for anything?’ He chuckled ironically, ‘it would’ve been easier to list what I wasn’t sorry for I bet. I didn’t tell them everything though. I didn’t tell them I was sorry for hurting you. I didn’t tell them I was sorry that I didn’t listen to you when you told me not to drive home from the bar in the state I was in. I didn’t tell them how sorry I was that my drinking got you killed.’ ‘You couldn’t have known that would happen,’ came Scarlett's voice from behind him, ‘I figured this is where you’d be.’ ‘I knew drunk driving was never a good idea,’ he said, ‘I insisted she come with me. Whose fault was it Scar?’

Scarlett came and sat down beside him resting her head on his shoulder as they looked at the headstone. They sat quietly for a moment Scarlett watching her uncle in the reflection of the cold hard granite as he closed his eyes allowing tears to fall silently. After a while they got up and Deacon dusted the dirt off of his suit as Scarlett bent down and looked at the flowers she recognised from the back seat.

‘Did you buy flowers?’ she asked. ‘Yeah, tulips were her favourite,’ he smiled.

_And I'd take your place in this field of stone,_

_If I only had to power,_

_Look what it took,_

_For me to finally bring you flowers._


End file.
